Unfortunately the avocado that I got for this wasn't quite ripe yet, so I had to make it without that particular ingredient. It was still tasty though! A bit more involved than most scrambled eggs, but good if you have the ingredients on hand and want something particularly hearty for breakfast.

Photo goes here.

Elegant Scrambled Eggs

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 tsp. butter, divided
• 100-150g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 c. chopped cooked chicken breast
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 tsp. lemon juice or red wine vinegar
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 Tbsp. dry white wine
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• chives and/or roasted red pepper, to serve
• sour cream, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat.
2. Add the mushrooms and shallot and cook until softened (5-10 minutes).
3. Add the chicken, avocado, and lemon juice/vinegar, remove from skillet, and set aside.
4. Beat the eggs with the milk, wine, salt, and pepper.
5. Melt the remaining 1 tsp. of butter over medium-low heat.
6. Pour the eggs into the pan and cook for a couple of minutes.
7. Add the chicken-mushroom mixture and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until eggs reach desired doneness.
8. Serve garnished with red pepper and/or chives and a dollop of sour cream.

This is a great breakfast. Maybe just don't try to bake the potatoes from scratch first thing in the morning. Bake them the night before and just warm them back up and finish off the prep in the morning. Or "bake" them in the microwave.

Timings aside... I really like this as a breakfast. It's very satiating. You get starch, protein, healthy fats, and a bit of dairy. The only thing it's missing is a bit of veg! I half-wonder if you could get away with mixing a bit of spinach into the potato. I actually think that would be really nice. And Reiver suggested that some chopped chives or green onions would be a nice addition as well.

Eggs in Baked Potatoes

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 4 tsp. butter
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 c. chopped frozen spinach, thawed (optional)
• 1/2 c. grated cheese, divided
• 4 large eggs
• 1-2 green onions, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and pierce the potatoes all over with a fork.
2. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~1 hour. (Or microwave on high for ~10 minutes.)
3. Split the potatoes lengthwise. Do not cut all the way through! Press on the ends to force them opem a bit.
4. Add 1 tsp. of butter and 1 Tbsp. of sour cream to each potato.
5. Use a fork to break up the flesh of each potato and mash in the butter and sour cream.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper, 1 Tbsp. of the cheese, and ~2 Tbsp. of spinach to each potato (if using). Mix well.
7. Make a well in the centre of each potato (pushing the flesh to the sides).
8. Transfer the potatoes to a greased baking dish.
9. Crack an egg into each potato and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
10. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 18-20 minutes (or until eggs reach desired doneness).
11. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

These waffles were good, but for the amount of effort, I probably wouldn't bother them again. There are other waffles that I like better for similar amounts of effort or less.

White Chocolate Waffles

From Cakelove in the Morning by Warren Brown

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, warmed
• 6 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 c. half-and-half (10% MF), warmed
• 225g white chocolate, melted
• 200g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Directions

1. Preheat the waffle iron.
2. Make sure the eggs and half-and-half are slightly warm so that they don't cause the chocolate to seize when you mix it in.
3. Separate the eggs.
4. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks.
5. Gradually beat in 4 Tbsp. of the sugar until sugar is dissolved and whites are stiff.
6. Transfer meringue to another bowl.
7. In the original bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of sugar.
8. Beat in the vanilla and the half-and-half.
9. Reduce speed and mix in the white chocolate.
10. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well.
11. Mix in ~1/3 of the meringue.
12. Carefully fold in the remaining meringue until just mixed.
13. Scoop a portion of the batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat with remaining batter.
14. Top with fresh raspberries, yogurt, or fruit of your choice.

This was the last savoury waffle in the book that I hadn't made yet. I had been holding off on making it initially since we were still avoiding shellfish for the Kidlet. But Reiver had put in a request for waffles and I was vibing with a savoury option, so I decided to finally give these ones a try. And they were really good!

Salt and Pepper Waffles with Clam Dip

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

Dip

• 115g bacon
• 1 (185g) can baby clams, drained
• 6 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 6 Tbsp. sour cream
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/8 tsp. celery seeds, ground

Waffles

• 140g all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 1 c. milk
• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1-2 green onions, green parts only, sliced

Directions

Dip

1. Cook the bacon until crisp and chop.¹
2. Combine the clams, mayo, sour cream, green onions, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and celery seed.
3. Mix well, taste, and adjust seasonings as desired.
4. Cover and chill for at least an hour.

Waffles

1. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and pepper.
2. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
3. Beat the egg with the milk.
4. Stir in the melted butter.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined.
6. If you have a "standard"/American waffle iron, you can put 2-3 tsp. of batter into each quadrant and make mini waffles to serve as an appetizer. Otherwise, you can use a normal quantity of batter to make full-sized waffles.
7. Cook according to manufacturer directions.

Assembly

1. Top the waffles with the clam dip.
2. Garnish with sliced green onion (and chopped bacon if you forgot to stir it into the dip like me).

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¹ I forgot to add the bacon to my dip, so I just sprinkled it on top at the end. ^Back

The Big Book of Breakfast has a whole section on breakfast potatoes. I haven't done many of those recipes yet. I tend to like to make breakfasts that are complete meals in and of themselves. I don't want to have to make multiple dishes for breakfast. And most of the potato dishes are more of a side dish than a main course. But I did give this one a try the other day when I had a few extra minutes while preparing the egg patties for breakfast.

I had a bit of trouble getting the potatoes to crisp up as much as I wanted. Next time I'd use a large pan (rather than the smaller one specified in the recipe). I think more surface area would have helped with getting everything to cook through and brown nicely.

Photo goes here.

Truck Stop Hash Browns

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• ~900g russet potatoes, grated
• 3-4 Tbsp. bacon grease or shortening
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Warm 3 Tbsp. of bacon grease over medium heat.
2. Add the potatoes to the pan and press down into an even layer.
3. Sprinkle with a generous quantity of salt and pepper.
4. Cook until bottom is browned (5-7 minutes). Do not stir!
5. Flip the potatoes (cutting in half first if necessary).
6. Add a little more fat to the pan if necessary.
7. Cook until browned on the other side (5-7 minutes longer).
8. Serve with eggs (cooked however you prefer).

This is a nice, lightly enriched white bread. It's made with an overnight sponge and produces a lovely light loaf. With the twist that it has a line of chocolate running through the centre of the loaves.

The original recipe has it written up as making two petite loaves. I didn't have any loaf pans quite that small (19x9cm), so I decided to add 250g of sourdough starter (to bulk it up a bit and use up some starter). I ended up making one medium (20x10cm) loaf and then turned the rest of the dough into rolls, each one stuffed with a small piece of chocolate.

I think next time I'd use a bit more chocolate in the loaf. It seems to have spread out as the dough rose and resulted in pockets of chocolate rather than a continuous line through the centre as I'd intended.

White Bread with Chocolate

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

Sponge

• 3/4 c. water
• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast)
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 c. hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 250g sourdough starter @ 100% hydration (optional)

Dough

• 1/2 c. warm water
• 1/4 c. dry milk powder
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• ~400g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 150g dark chocolate

Directions

1. Combine water, yeast, ginger, flour, and sourdough starter (if using).
2. Mix well, cover, and set aside at room temperature overnight.
3. In the morning, add the warm water, milk powder, sugar, salt, and butter and stir to combine.
4. Add the remaining flour, a little at a time, until a soft dough forms.
5. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 15-20 minutes, incorporating any remaining flour as necessary.
6. Round the dough and place in a covered bowl to rise for 60-90 minutes.
7. Knock the dough back, divide into two equal portions, round each portion, cover, and rest for 5-10 minutes.
8. Grease two 19x9cm (7.5x3.5") or 20x10cm (8x4") loaf pans, two 20cm (9") square pans, or one of each.
9. If making loaves: press each dough ball flat, letter fold, place a line of chocolate along the short side, and then roll up around the chocolate. Pinch the seam and ends to seal and place, seam-side-down, into the prepared pans.
   If making rolls: Divide each dough ball into nine equal portions. Press each portion flat and place a small piece of chocolate in the centre of each one. Fold the edges of the rounds up over the chocolate and pinch to seal. Flip the ball over and roll it to form it into a tight ball. Place, seam-side-down in the prepared pan.
10. Cover and set aside to rise for ~40 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
12. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 20-30 minutes.
13. Turn off oven and allow bread to stand in the hot oven for ~5 minutes.
14. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.
15. If desired, brush top crusts with a little butter to give it a slightly glossy finish.

I made a fresh loaf of bread the other day. So then, when I slept in the next morning and wasn't feeling up to doing much for breakfast, I decided to go for this French toast. It's got enough to it to be interesting, but isn't actual complicated or difficult.

It's really meant to be made with a baguette so that you get lots of little slices. But I had just made a full-sized pan loaf, so I used that and just did a few larger slices.

Banana-Nut Stuffed French Toast

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 loaf of bread (may not need the whole thing)
• 3-4 bananas, sliced
• 1/2-3/4 c. chopped walnuts
• 4-6 Tbsp. brown sugar
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Beat the eggs with the milk and vanilla and pour into a large shallow bowl.
2. Cut a slice of bread ~1cm (1/2") thick and almost all the way through. Then cut the next "slice" (also ~1cm thick) all the way throgh. (So that you essentially have two slices joined at the bottom.)
3. Fill the space between the two joined slices with a single layer of banana slices.
4. Sprinkle in 1-2 Tbsp. of walnuts and 2-3 tsp. of brown sugar.
5. Heat up a pan over medium-low heat.
6. Melt a little butter into the pan.
7. Carefully dip the stuffed bread into the custard. Flip and dip the other side.
8. Place the dipped bread into the pan and cook until golden-brown on the underside.
9. Flip and cook until the other side is also nicely browned.
10. Repeat with additional bread and filling until the custard has been used up.
11. Serve with whipped cream.